Organizing meetups

What is a meetup and what should you get from it?

A meetup is an informal gathering of individuals interested in Drupal.

What is a meetup and what should you get from it?

It’s not generally a formal event. They are set up as, show up and let’s talk. Some people have found it better to have a designated organizer for a meetup to book the room and organize a presenter.

Location

• A bar is a great place. A lot of them happen there.
• Your employer’s conference room.
• A cafe or restaurant.
• Library meeting room.
• University classroom.

These have all worked. University, library. Locations generally are free. There’s no reason to have to rent a place or pay.

Frequency

Meetups are often held once per month. Some are twice a month, some every three months. The answer is more about the community and how often they want to meet. If there are only five of you, then once a month may be too close together.

Preparation

Meetups will often include one or more informal presentations. Find some people in your community who have some sort of expertise or want to talk. Find that person and bring them to the meetup. They don't need to be an expert, just to have some knowledge to share.

Sample agenda

Generally a meetup is around two hours long.

• First 15 min to half hour: introductions
  • Who are you?
  • What brings you here?
  • What do you do?
  • How do you use Drupal?
  • What are your websites, what companies do you work for?
  • Generally catching up.

  If it’s always the same five people, that goes quicker. If you have a bigger group, you might must use names.

• Then presentation if you have one. This works well at from a half hour to an hour.
• Next hour, one of two things:
  • Q and A on the presentation
  • Branching out into small group discussion. Divide up into several small groups focused on specific topics. For example, there might be small groups on: theming, module development, etc.

Generally, after the two hours, you might order another round at the bar.